Date: Thu, 6 Feb 1997 14:11:52 -0700 (MST) From: Terry Lambert <terry@lambert.org> To: bde@zeta.org.au (Bruce Evans) Cc: durham@w2xo.pgh.pa.us, hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Re: DOS partition trouble Message-ID: <199702062111.OAA17832@phaeton.artisoft.com> In-Reply-To: <199702060616.RAA09563@godzilla.zeta.org.au> from "Bruce Evans" at Feb 6, 97 05:16:25 pm
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
> >Twice now, I have removed a DOS partition > >from a disk with both DOS and FreeBSD > >partitions and been unable to boot FreeBSD. > >... > >I had tried running the partition editor when I had no DOS > >partition and it gave all indications of sucessfully writing > >out the boot block, but would not boot until I remade the > >DOS partition. Trying to mount the root directory from the MFS > >on the boot floppy gave a "bad super block" error. > > For SCSI disks with at least ncr controllers, this could be caused > a DOS partition that ends on a cylinder boundary and FreeBSD partition > that doesn't. When you remove the DOS partition, the controller's BIOS > will have problems determining the disk geometry. What? The BIOS examines the disk to get the geometry? How do you put something on the disk in the first place, then? I was under the impression that fictitious geometry was *always* an artifact of the BIOS's idea of geometry, not the oter way around. Terry Lambert terry@lambert.org --- Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present or previous employers.
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?199702062111.OAA17832>